Ferdinand

Have you had an inheritance? Charles Rennie Mackintosh over Frank Lloyd Wright any day (except the high-back chairs which I suspect go flub at the back-of-seat joint). Charles Rennie Mackintoshes don't auto-collapse a few years after the architect popped his clogs.

I think the name is cool.

They probably feel a little .. er .. blue. You will never know the harvest you could have had, since they won't talk to you now.

Some things like blueberries insist on that or rainwater aiui.

That's one way to avoid the licensing fee ! One comparison of interest will be with the target for the English regs for 2025, which on the numbers seems quite demanding. Another is whether they will be able to implement a proper inspection regime (assuming the current one is sample based with informal advanced knowledge for the developer as to which ones will be checked). F

That's the usual warning to people using studded tyres on bicycles. Take care when getting off 'cos teh bike has better grip. Mine's staying it its stall this week until we get above 5C.. In this vid from Cheltenham I love the chap on the bike:

Interesting - just been putting the bin out and nearly came a cropper through wet ice. This morning it was -2C here, currently it is 3C, and it had rained, then stopped, then started again. It has been noticeably slow over the last days for e car windshields to unfrost - I have been needing to preheat windows even in mid-afternoon. I went across 4 surfaces: 1 - Council slabs. Grippy for my pumps. 2 - Gravel. Grippy for my pumps. 3 - Tarmac in the lane. Grippy for my pumps. 3 - Ribbed concrete on the drive. Nearly went over. I'm assuming that was puddles from early on that had not thawed and now had a film of rain. Anybody else? Ferdinand

Yes. One layer is brittle to point loads, three layers plus all the other stuff on top spreads out the loads.

TBF - smoothing out usage reduces the need for backup infra.

Had a little dig into this, and rewatched the episode. As it happens they also redid their EPC this summer. The episode discusses that the design is passive. And the epsiode includes an air test @ 33 minutes below. His "High Five" accent reveals a Borat fan, I'd say ! Basically, the roof u-value is 0.13 (EPC = 92), and the arch is insulated on the outside under the green roof. It overhangs at the sides and that is where the uninsulated bits are - must be an interesting joining detail there. Timber frame box walls are 300mm of newspaper clippings. One point I did not remember is that the outside 2 layers of tiles (from 3) are laid in cement, whilst the inside layer is in plaster of Paris. Drainage via a layer of terram or similar, filled with 20 tons of gravel: Main source of heating is a biomass boiler. Has solar PV (with a very nice payment per unit) and also solar thermal. I'd say they knew exactly what they were doing. Well done all round. And, yes, there was the obligatory baby. Links: EPC: https://find-energy-certificate.service.gov.uk/energy-certificate/9676-0036-6304-9432-7200 Programme:

Well - the posties are giving you a break !

Octopussy has now published (on my account anyway) total amounts saved in Saving Sessions. That's 443 MWh, or the annual electricity (not all energy) demand of an average group of around 100 detached houses in the UK, saved by approx 250k customers over 4 sessions. Average electricity demand of detached house = approx 4 MWh. More relevantly, it knocked 108 MW off the peak of demand, by engaging just under 1% of electricity account holders. Gives an insight into potential flexibility. Ballpark that is a reduction of 1/4 to 1/3 in short term electricity demand, when you pay people far more than the cost of the electricity. Analysis: https://octopus.energy/press/believe-it-or-watt-octopus-energy-customers-provide-108mw-of-grid-flexibility-in-first-saving-session-equivalent-of-a-gas-power-station/

Sorry to hear your challenges, @GrantMcscott. There's been quite a bit of nodding to theory on this thread (which is important). FWIW, your floor spec is - to my eye - pretty good rather than reasonable. By ufh only has 90mm of PIR under it, but was built in 2009. Your 150mm will on its own meet the current building regs newbuild value of 0.13 in England, which was not pushed further in the latest update in June 2022, and looks to be here to stay. My suggestion is to get an inexpensive thermal camera, and take a pretty comprehensive set of photos outside and inside whilst it is cold out and and warm in, which will show heat leaks (including warm outward draughts) well. You should also see useful cold spots etc with photos taken inside. Once you have that data then you can decide what to do next. Simple tools you may also find useful are things like (sample sources): A £5-10 hand held point and shoot thermometer: https://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d03308/infrared-thermometer/dp/IN08363 A couple of £10 or so min/max thermometer / hygrometer https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Thermometer-Hygrometer-Temperature-Humidity/dp/B00VYRC58I/ It's he simplest form of data logger ! I always have a couple of these around for quick checks. Then you could have a simple datalogger recommended by one of the BH co-conspirators. My house is a little smaller than yours - 200sqm, but I live here on my own (with the squirrels and the foxes) and my energy bill in December is also going to spike. I've been running a couple of rads only (24x7 for some of it which I have just cracked down on), and closed down all the bedrooms except one. Are there any parts of yours you can seal off for the winter, to reduce the volume heated? I don't know about your wood supplies, but have you considered running your woodburner overnight in a damped down mode? One other thought - are you on an optimal electricity tariff for your heating strategy? What would happen if you switched to a cheap overnight tariff and ran the UFH heavily then, and relied on the slab-heat-delay plus wood burner to keep you warm in the day? ATB Ferdinand

You get those on Amazon - which allegedly target the water spray in the correct direction. I met 2 foxes in my garden last night, so I'm looking at this thread. That does not specify what "one" refers to - ultrasound or llama? 🙂 I'll be trying ultrasound to see if our urban foxes are sensitive. Plus hopefully a big spring clean in the garden in due course. F .

Available via trade routes, and legal depending how it is used. Banned from being advertising. A very British fudge.

See the two cost saving threads pinned in the General Forum. https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/forum/48-general-self-build-diy-discussion/ Essentially one is about setting yourself up to save money, and the other is a noticeboard about discounts.

Sarah Beeny's "Twice the House for Half the Money" had a lot of good examples of that sort of approach. There was another one as well where the gimmick was projects digital walkarounds where one proposal was radical and the other conservative that was also good - forgotten the series title.

You learn until you are satisfied you know enough, then use your skill and judgement to make a suitable estimate of where your best option lies 🙂.

I may have missed what standard you intend to build your fabric too. In a near passive house temperatures should fluctuate slowly (eg cool down in 24hrs by 0.5C with all heat sources off) but if heat gets soaked in over a number of days (either by you running the heating or by prolonged hot weather) it can be a devil to cool down. Which is why we spend a lot of time here discussing strategies. Most people do some things, and make provision to do other things easily in the future (fitted for but not with - see the Navy Destroyers which are now getting land attack missiles they have not had before because the Russkies are getting tetchy, or the Aircraft Carriers and the catapults that they have provision for, ish, but will not be fitted for 10 or 20 years.). Then there are various after-market fixes you can apply if you got it a little wrong and find out later. My house is not near passive so it fluctuates more. I have some good things like electric UFH in the bathroom upstairs and a shower rad in the shower downstairs, and rads in all the rooms upstairs. I don't use the ufh upstairs at the mo as I am using the downstairs (which is gas powered) rather than the lecky one upstairs which costs more per amount of hot water. Examples of what people do are from the minor - fit a towel rad that may be used more extensively for a heat boost if needed (in a near passive house), or fit a plug socket and bit of wood in the wall where they can eg retrofit a 200w loft type heater in a bedroom later , up to fitting an unused circuit of their ufh. An example of an after market fix if eg oh-bugger-the-big-sexy-windows-cause-too-much-heat-and-SWMBO-is-unhappy-that-hubby-has-turned-into-a-moaning-lobster could be solar blocking external film on the windows. You need to do enough contingency planning such that you are satisfied you can allow for the future. And document it so the next owner knows when you have moved or popped your clogs. Ferdinand

Relying on a deed from 192x when the laws were all thrown up in the air more recently and rewritten heavily (ie post WW2), might not be *that* secure IMO. But I wish you ATB.

To get that information without charge, you may be able to put in an FOI.

Can you add to that. What do you mean by "public footpath"? In England (And Wales? Not sure about Scotland, which is a law unto itself in many things) it means an established public right of way which can be travelled by pedestrians (and everyone included in that definition). Of which there are 250,000km. Is that what you actually mean, @Temp? Or do you mean verge, or pavement / footpath (ie 'sidewalk'), or something else? I have not seen 3m in connection with foot traffic, except in reference to the width of verge where a footway or cycleway is to be considered "physically separate" from the carriageway in the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges. If you have a cite, that would be great. I may well be slightly overegging this, as I am currently interested in these categories since I am working with Equality law to have wheelchair blocking obstacles removed from public footpaths, bridleways and cycletracks in my locality. Cheers Ferdinand

The one I dealt with had a map of which land was included in the Highways Land, with a map in possession of the Highways Authority. My consultant knew how to get a copy after I told him that I knew that had been the position from way back when, and told him to go find the proof. The Nimby Neighbours were trying to play the "not enough room for the required junction" game to stop the Planning Application. As ever anything becomes a lever to stop it. It is quite common for techniial "ownership" to extend to the middle of the road, but the right to use for highway is more like an overruling Right of Way. When we sold our large family home, technical land stuff caused havoc because the road had been moved 10m further away from our fence when the road was realigned by the govt when the M1 was built 200m away, and the buyer's adviser refused to believe we were unequivocally allowed to drive over the extra 10m of verge coming out of our drive. We had been there 37 years. It's a game of GO that someone needs to know how to play. Or they could circumvent you. It is incredibly important to come across as someone with heft, rather than as Mr Angry. When we sold out ransom strip I mention above, by getting a good RICS negotiator in we got multiple times the price initially offered. My other tip is once you are sure your position is unassailable under appropriate advice, be prepared to use time as a lever and let the process take several years. Then there will come a time to grasp the nettle and make your move. You win the battle in the preparation. F

There are procedures for testing your concrete for damp - most involve drilling a small hole. As a crude check, tape come polythene to the floor and see if any moisture emerges underneath it in a day or two. (Shoot me down if this is wrong, guys). On you floor build up, I would seriously consider trimming your doors to get a but more insulation in - even 15mm of celotex will make a difference as the first layer of insulation has the most benefit. Is there s thicker version of those underlay tiles? Document whatever you do so that you can make your EPC assessor acknowledge it. On underlay, have a look at the roll products from manufacturers, as these sometimes contain adhesive strips along the sides which stick together - though those under-tiles also look OK. I think I used this one from QuickStep. https://www.quick-step.co.uk/en-gb/accessories/qsudlbp15_basic-plus-15-m2 F